Yeah I asked the question.  I can hear the collective panties bunching up the rear-ends of fanboys across the world. Look, the concept here is simple.  The game looks great and seems like it is going to be good so don’t go calling your Valve fan club president just yet.  My question runs a little deeper than that.

In the original Portal you had what turned about to be a gaming phenomenon.  A game that comes out of nowhere on a disc full of already established games and no one (and I mean no one) originally thought “Portal, damn I gotta grab the Orange Box so I can play it!”.  Within weeks, word of mouth and reviews had changed that.   There were no haters.  Portal was 2007′s sleeper smash hit that Valve needed and was later ported to the PS3 and PC platforms.

It’s success prompted the 2008 release of Portal: Still Alive in the XBLA which contained some non-plot advancing puzzle fun.  So where’s the problem you ask? I am gonna tell you.

Portal 2 is a mainstream, multi-platform stand-alone title now.  It’s a much larger task than its Orange Box predecessor.  Considerations, compromises, and compatibility all have to be taken into account when planning a full title.  A lot of the major pieces are still in place with the development team.  Valve is certainly capable of producing a high quality product.  It’s the gaps that worry me.  The original title was short.  Can a full length Portal 2 stay interesting for 9-12 hours?  They have already altered the original ending to allow for Chell to return …  so what else had to be altered?  And what mainstream dumb-downs will be present?

Let’s be honest here…I am buying this game or at least renting it but utterances like multiplayer scare me.  I will play it with an open mind and hope my concerns were unwarranted.  I guess the point is I am hoping the people who may be expecting too much will do the same.

What do you think?  Do you have concerns of your own?  Let us know.